The Musaajid are the Houses of Allaah Ta’ala and they deserve the utmost respect and reverence. We have been created for the worship of Allah Ta`ala, and the highest form of worship is Salaat. The Musaajid are the structures built specifically to execute this highest form of Ibaadat. The sanctity of the Musaajid cannot be overemphasised.

Not only is purity and cleanliness imperative in the Musaajid, they are also abodes of peace and tranquillity.

Little children pose a grave threat to both – the purity and tranquillity – of the Musaajid. It is for this reason that Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) expressly forbade their entry.

When the Shariah prohibits an Ibaadat such as thikr and even the Qur’aan Shareef to be recited loudly in the Musaajid, what then can be said of the raucous behaviour created by delinquent children!

A Hadith explains that when people speak (worldly or futile speech) in a Musjid, the angels curse such a person. Do parents who bring their little children into the Musjid desire that the curse of Allah Ta’ala and His angels fall on their children? In fact, the parent are liable for the disturbances created by their children.

It is stated in Al Ashbaah wan Nazaa`ir that it is HARAAM to bring such children into a Musjid who have no perception of ritual cleanliness and who are themselves impure. If they are not impure and have some perception of ritual cleanliness, then too, it is Makrooh to bring them to the Musjid. [In the vocabulary of the Fuqahaa, ‘Makrooh’ denotes Tahreem. This means that to regularly bring small children (younger than the age of 7, who may even be well-behaved) to the Musjid is Makrooh Tahreemi – in other words – HARAAM).

When a child reaches the age of 7 and he is properly trained (at home) regarding cleanliness and he understands and respects the sanctity of the Musjid, he may be brought into the Musjid, otherwise not!

Children (who qualify to be brought into the Musjid) should also be taught to stand in a separate saff behind the adults. Children who stand amongst the adults, break the saff, thereby causing a deficiency in the Salaat of the adults.

Besides what has been explained above regarding small children, today there is a greater problem than the small children, and that is the unruly behaviours of baaligh ‘children’ in the Musjid. They show no respect for the Salaat, the Musjid and the musallis. Many teenagers have absolutely no perception of the sanctity of the Musjid, and their parents display no concern for the misbehaviours of their baaligh ‘children’. Despite them being adults in terms of the Shariah, their behaviour at times is worse than the nabaaligh children. It is the incumbent obligation of parents to instil in their children the significance and importance of the House of Allah Ta’ala.